Hair loss confessions and solutions

Losing your hair is never fun; not for men or women. I’ve had countless clients who have experienced hair loss due to thyroid disorders, autoimmune conditions, stress, nutrient deficiencies and more.

Your hair is part of your identity so it’s not an easy thing to lose. It’s what makes you look like who you are. It’s part of how you identify with yourself in the mirror and even how others identify you – I mean it is a required feature on any type of official ID such as your driver’s license or passport. It gives you confidence, makes you feel sexy, attractive and good about yourself. Even if bald is your thing, it still defines you.

So when my hair started falling out a few months ago, I was in denial.

My hair has been a treasured part of me since I can remember. As a little girl I loved styling it my own way and I’ve never had the guts to cut it any shorter than my shoulders because I love my luscious locks.

But for some reason when my typical hair shedding increased, I shrugged it off and made excuses for it…

It was because the change in seasonsI went too many days without washing my hairI wasn’t brushing it enoughI was working more and under more stress

You know, the usual things.

I just kept thinking, “if I just give it time it will stop.”

As the months went by and my hair continued to clog up the shower drain in larger quantities than I had ever seen before, I started to question what my body might actually be trying to tell me.

My hair wasn’t falling out by the handfuls, but something was certainly up.

Overall, I had been feeling really great health-wise. My energy was even and up. I was sleeping soundly through the night and getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I was exercising regularly, taking active rest days and being mindful of not over-doing it. And I had recently recommitted to a modified AIP (Autoimmune Paleo) Ketogenic style diet again to restore my body after a busy summer schedule.

However, I was working more than usual and likely under more stress than I would like to admit.

We recently found another source of mold (ugh, for the 3rd time) in our home which certainly could have been a contributing factor.

And as someone who had been previously diagnosed with Hashimotos, an autoimmune thyroid disorder, I was at risk for other autoimmune conditions such as Alopecia.

Whatever the reason was for my hair loss, I was determined to get to the bottom of it so I could get back to feeling like myself again with my luscious locks.

In this week’s video and blog, I confess more about my hair loss and share natural solutions to getting those luscious locks back.

The quality of your hair is a measurement of your health.

I put on my health detective hat and got to work.

The first order of business was to research possible causes for hair loss and which ones might pertain to me.

The most common causes of hair loss are:

When thyroid hormone T3 is low

Changes in estrogen and progesterone

Alopecia (an autoimmune condition) is activated

Vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies

An increase is mental, physical or emotional stress

Toxic exposures such as mold and heavy metals

Drastic changes to your diet

Improper scalp care and/or cleaning

Poor circulation

I could relate to just about every one of these risk factors, even Alopecia (although I had never been diagnosed with it) because once you have one autoimmune condition your risk for others increases.

So I started the process of elimination by checking my thyroid hormones to make sure all was running right and that my Hashimotos hadn’t flared back up.

To my delight my thyroid hormone and antibodies were practically picture perfect. So I checked thyroid and an autoimmune flare-up as an issue off my list.

I exercise daily and didn’t have any other symptoms of poor circulation such as cold hands or feet, or muscle fatigue. And although life had been a little more work-ful and stressful, I still had a twice-daily meditation ritual in place and I didn’t feel an inability to handle stress, so I bumped circulation and stress as possible causes lower on my list of risk factors.

My mood was stable, cycle perfectly timed every 28 days and easy, I was sleeping soundly and acne wasn’t problem so estrogen and progesterone didn’t seem to be a culprit either.

That left me with:

Drastic changes to diet

Vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies

Toxic exposures such as mold and heavy metals

And improper scalp care and/or cleaning

I decided it was time to call in a hair specialist to help me research this further and I schedule a microscopic hair analysis appointment at my Naturopathic Doctor’s office (shout out to Nourish Medical Center for offering such a wonderful service!).

The analysis confirmed I certainly had a condition called Telogen Effluvium going on which can be triggered by a variety of things such as the drastic changes in diet, deficiencies, toxins and improper scalp care that I was suspicious of.

It’s tough to say exactly what the root cause for Telogen Effluvium is, and it could be a variety of things.

So based on my most likely factors here is what I’m doing to solve for hair loss:

If you or someone you know has been struggling with hair loss, I recommend going through a similar process of investigation as I did. Do your research, consider your risk factors, investigate possible causes through process of elimination and ultimately support your body naturally through diet, exercise, rest, stress reduction and toxin elimination to restore luscious locks.